Nobility of Spirit: A Forgotten Ideal

Rob Riemen

Published by Yale University Press 2008

Nobility of Spirit

A Forgotten Ideal

Rob Riemen

https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300145403

Overview
Contents

About this book

In the pages of this slim, powerful book Rob Riemen argues with passion that nobility of spirit” is the quintessence of a civilized world. It is, as Thomas Mann believed, the sole corrective for human history. Without nobility of spirit, culture vanishes. Yet in the early twenty-first century, a time when human dignity and freedom are imperiled, the concept of nobility of spirit is scarcely considered.

Riemen insists that if we hope to move beyond the war on terror and create a life-affirming culture, we must address timeless but neglected questions: What is a good society? Why art? Why culture? What is the responsibility of intellectuals? Why anti-Americanism? Why nihilism? Why the cult of death of fundamentalists? In a series of three essays, the author identifies nobility of spirit in the life and work of Baruch Spinoza and of Thomas Mann; explores the quest for the good society in our own time; and addresses the pursuit of truth and freedom that engaged figures as disparate as Socrates and Leone Ginzburg, a Jewish Italian intellectual murdered by Nazis.

The forces now aligned against humanistic values are manifold,” observes George Steiner in the foreword to the book. In this imaginative and compelling volume, Riemen addresses these forces and speaks to every reader who believes in the power of classical ideas to restore Western civilization’s highest values.

Author / Editor information

Rob Riemen, an essayist and cultural philosopher, is founder of the Nexus Institute, an international center devoted to intellectual reflection and to inspiring Western cultural and philosophical debate. He lives in the Netherlands.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	ii
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Prelude: Dinner at the River Café Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
The Quest of Thomas Mann Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
Untimely Conversations on Timely Questions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	31
Be Brave Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	83
Selected Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	113
Author’s Note Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	115

Language: English
Publisher: Yale University Press
Pages
- Main content: 160

eBook

Published: October 1, 2008
ISBN: 9780300145403